


Birthday Surprises

by Baroness_Blixen



Category: The X-Files
Genre: Episode: s04e17 Tempus Fugit, F/M, UST, scully's birthday doesn't get interrupted!, that keychain, there's dessert
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-07
Updated: 2020-04-07
Packaged: 2021-03-01 21:47:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,807
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23534047
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Baroness_Blixen/pseuds/Baroness_Blixen
Summary: What if Scully and Mulder didn’t get interrupted during their birthday dinner in "Tempus Fugit" and went home together afterwards?
Relationships: Fox Mulder/Dana Scully
Comments: 8
Kudos: 88





	Birthday Surprises

He hasn’t been this nervous since his first date as a teenager. Maybe not even then. Mulder is certain that Scully has no idea that Mulder has planned this night at The Headless Woman’s Pub for a while. They used to come here more often, sharing a drink after a long day of work, getting to know each other outside of their dusty basement office.

Now, nights at the pub have become scarce. He misses those days, but not for the obvious reasons. He misses seeing Scully downing shots without blinking an eye. Her glowing complexion when she’s had one too many. Most of all he misses her laughter, her easy smiles. This year, they’ve spent too much time at hospitals and being at odds. For old time’s sake and all that, he wanted to come here tonight, on her birthday.

Scully is talking to him. He watches her mouth move but he doesn’t listen, too fussy to even think. The straw behind his teeth wears thin, just like his nerves.

“Happy birthday to you.” Finally. The singing waiters walk over to them, smiling brightly. Mulder grins at Scully who doesn’t take her eyes off of him.

“Happy birthday, dear Dana,” the waiters sing loudly, putting the hideous pink dessert in front of her. All eyes are on their table and Scully is still looking only at him, making him squirm.

“I didn’t know it was your birthday,” he jokes, clapping more enthusiastically than everyone else. He pushes the straw around in his mouth. Part one of Dana Scully’s birthday surprise is done.

“Mulder, you have never remembered my birthday in the four years I’ve known you.”

“That’s the way I like to celebrate them. Every four years, it’s like dog years that way.” Her expression shows him that she’s not impressed or amused. If he wants this to be a success, he has to up his game and quickly.

“Dog years? Thank you.”

“You’re welcome. I’ve got something for you.” He hopes she doesn’t see his hands shaking as he hands the small white box over. In hindsight, he should have picked another box but he liked it. The understated white and gold reminded him of Scully. Just like the small gift inside. She takes it from him and their fingers brush. It’s like an electric shock and Mulder pulls away. “It’s just something that reminded me of you.”

“What? An alien implant?” He smiles. Not many people know this – and he considers himself lucky to be among those chosen few – but Scully likes to kid around as much as he does. Unlike him, though, she tries to keep it outside the office.

“Two actually. I made them into earrings.” He wanted to give her earrings, he really did. He spent hours looking at jewelry, his attention constantly drawn towards a different section. The elegant wedding bands he saw in that small shop still haunt his dreams. It was a well-timed punch that day, the realization that this might be the last birthday she’d ever celebrate. In the end, though, he didn’t dare. Giving her a ring, a glowing promise he might not be able to keep, was not the way to go.

“Apollo Eleven.” Scully’s soft voice brings him back to the pub, to the here and now, away from his intrusive thoughts. She’s smiling secretively, her fingers tracing the artwork in front.

“Read the back.”

“Commemorating Apollo Eleven and the mission to the moon, July 1969.” He chuckles, unable to stop himself. He had a joke, a bad one, an innuendo that he decides to save for later.

“It’s uhm… I thought it was a pretty cool keychain.” Another joke to ease his mind. In his head, all of this was easier. Looking at her now, at the pink color of her cheeks and her wet eyes, he’s at a loss for words. He’s ever had a problem with talking. He can talk himself out of almost anything. When it comes to his feelings, especially those concerning Scully, he feels like he’s never even learned the alphabet. He doesn’t know where to begin.

Shaking her head slightly, Scully chuckles. But he sees it, a flicker of disappointment in her expression. He takes a deep breath, prepares himself for his big speech, and almost chokes on the straw in his mouth.

“Mulder!” This was not part of the plan, him choking to death and Scully having to save the day and him. It doesn’t even take her long. Her arms go around him and he doesn’t know how she does it but she heaves him up and a moment later he can breathe again. For a second time that night, they’re the center of attention. People clap and cheer Scully on, but she is more concerned with his health.

“How are you? Can you breathe?”

“I’m good,” he says, clearing his throat.

“That’s why you shouldn’t chew on straws.” She strokes his back and gives him a smile.

“Just so you know,” he says, taking a big sip from his drink, his throat protesting, “I didn’t plan this.” The smile she gives him melts his heart. Maybe it’s the shock. Maybe it’s the realization that she saved him, not just now but a thousand times over. Maybe, maybe, maybe. It doesn’t matter what the reason is. She deserves to know why he got her that keychain. She deserves much and there’s so little he can give her.

“The couple at the table behind you is giving me pitying looks. How about we take this… thing and leave this place?”

“Is this part of your plan?” Scully winks at him. That small act momentarily renders him speechless and motionless.

“Carrying this thing? No,” he says when he finds his voice again. The dessert waggles precariously as he picks it up.

"I can’t believe you remembered,” Scully says, sounding amazed.

“Your birthday?”

“The Hot Glow Pepper Delight Surprise.” She points at the pink blob in his hand. What a name. It was almost a year ago when he saw Scully lust over the dessert. Her eyes glazed over as the waited walked past them carrying two of them over to another table. She never would have said anything. Worse than that, she never would have ordered it herself. He decided then and there to one day to get her that dessert, come what may. It took him long enough.

“There’s pepper in this thing?” He says, shaking off the heavy memory.

“I guess we’ll have to find out, won’t we? Unless you…,” she trails off and stops working. She buries her hands in her pockets and stares up at him.

“It’s your birthday, Scully. You get to decide whether you want to share.” Please say yes, he thinks.

Her smile would have been answer enough, but she says, “I want to share. Take me home, Mulder.”

His ears are ringing but he does as he’s told. They’re quite on the way to her apartment, sitting close together in the back of a cab. When he glances over at her, he sees her touching the keychain again and smiles.

“I’m getting us spoons,” Scully says once they’re inside her apartment. She switches on the lights, toes off her shoes and walks into the kitchen. Mulder has been here many, many times. Tonight is different. He slips out of his shoes, too, and carries the dessert over to Scully’s kitchen table. He stares at it, half expecting it to explode.

“Here you go.” Their fingers brush again as Scully hands him a spoon. He mouths a thank you and waits for her to have the first taste. “I don’t know where to start,” she says, sounding carefree and young.

“Funny,” Mulder mumbles, “I have the same problem.”

“What do you mean?”

“I never explained to you why I got you that keychain.”

“You don’t have to, Mulder. I love it. Whatever it means, I appreciate the thought.”

That’s so Scully, letting him off the hook. Not on her birthday, though, not this time.

“Do you remember it? The landing on the moon?” She shakes her head. “I do. Spent all day in front of the TV. Samantha, well, she didn’t really care but to me it was everything. Like many boys, I wanted to be a part of something that big, that important. I remembered that when I saw the keychain.” Scully takes it out of her pocket. “I haven’t made it to space yet.”

“Well, some of your ideas are definitely out there.”

“Very funny,” he says, but smiles. “It was only possible because people believed in the vision. They believed, Scully. They worked together as a team. If they hadn’t… that made me think of you. Before you came along, no one believed in me.”

“Mulder…”

“No, it’s true. No one did. But then you… when I saw that keychain, I thought of it. I thought of you.” His mouth feels dry, like sandpaper. There’s so much more he wants to say and can’t.

“I love it, Mulder,” she says and puts her hand on his. “I do. It’s a thoughtful gift. A wonderful one.”

“There’s another reason,” he admits.

“Oh?”

“69, Scully.” He laughs and she slaps his arm. “What? You don’t like it?”

“Wouldn’t you want to find out,” she says under her breath but not quietly enough for him not to hear. She digs her spoon into the rich dessert and it falls apart in front of his eyes. Scully giggles.

“Yeah, I want to find out, Scully.”

“Then try it.”

“What?” He asks, this time almost choking on his own saliva.

“The dessert.”

“Oh. Of course.”

“What did you – oh.” She blushes deeply, her face now the same color as her Hot Glow Surprise. “Today’s my birthday, isn’t it?”

“You’re not seriously asking the guy who forgot it the last four years, do you?” Mulder brings the spoon to his mouth and tastes the disgustingly sweet cake.

“Does that mean I get a wish?” His eyes are intense but certain. His heart is, too, pounding vigorously in his chest. He nods slowly, licking his lip.

“Anything I want.”

“Anything. It’s your birthday.”

“I want a-” a knock on the door startles them both and Scully’s spoon lands on the table with a clank. They stare at each other. Neither wants to know who it is. Neither of them cares. Scully licks her lip just as they hear another knock, this time more insistently.

“I’m just gonna…” Mulder watches her rush to the door and open it to a frantic looking young woman.

“Yes?” Scully asks, her body tense.

“My name is Sharon Graffia. I’m sorry to approach you like this, but I followed you. I was asked to find you if something happened.”

Scully’s birthday is over, no matter what more he’d planned.


End file.
